System and methods for improved spreadsheet interface with user-familiar objects

ABSTRACT

An electronic spreadsheet system of the present invention includes a notebook interface having a plurality of notebook pages, each of which may contain a spread of information cells, or other desired page type (e.g., Graphs page). Methods are provided for rapidly accessing and processing information on the different pages, including displaying a plurality of page identifiers for selecting individual pages, and further including a preferred syntax for referencing information. Additional methods are provided for editing cells and blocks of cells.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE INTERFACE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsmile reproduction by anyone of the present documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightwhatsoever.

MICROFICHE APPENDIX

A single-fiche microfiche Appendix A is includes with this application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of informationprocessing by digital computers and, more particularly, to theprocessing and presentation of information by program applications,particularly electronic spreadsheets.

Before computers, numerical analyses, particularly financial ones, wereusually prepared on an accountant's columnar pad or spreadsheet, withpencil and calculator in hand. By organizing data into columns and rows,spreadsheets afford the rapid assimilation of information by a reader.The task of preparing a spreadsheet on paper, however, is not quite sofast. Instead, the process tends to be very slow, as each entry must betediously calculated and entered into the spreadsheet. Since allcalculations are the responsibility of the preparer, manually preparedspreadsheets are also prone to errors. Hence, preparation ofspreadsheets by hand is slow, tedious, and unreliable.

With the advent of microcomputers, a solution was forthcoming in theform of "electronic spreadsheets." Better known simply as"spreadsheets," these software programs provide a computerizedreplacement for the traditional financial modeling tools: theaccountant's columnar pad, pencil, and calculator. In some regards,spreadsheet programs are to those tools what wordprocessors are totypewriters. Spreadsheets offer dramatic improvements in ease ofcreating, editing, and using financial models.

A typical spreadsheet program configures the memory of a computer toresemble the column/row or grid format of an accountant's columnar pad,thus providing a visible calculator for a user. Because this "pad"exists dynamically in the computer's memory, however, it differs frompaper pads in several important ways. Locations in the electronicspreadsheet, for example, must be communicated to the computer in aformat which it can understand. A common scheme for accomplishing thisis to assign a number to each row in a spreadsheet, and a letter to eachcolumn. To reference a location at column A and row 1 (i.e., theupper-lefthand corner), for example, the user types in "A1". In thismanner, the spreadsheet defines an addressable storage location or"cell" at each intersection of a row with a column.

Data entry into an electronic spreadsheet occurs in much the same mannerthat information would be entered on an accountant's pad. After a screencursor is positioned at a desired location, the user can enteralphanumeric information. Besides holding text and numeric information,however, spreadsheet cells can store special instructions or "formulas"specifying calculations to be performed on the numbers stored inspreadsheet cells. In this fashion, cell references can serve asvariables in an equation, thereby allowing precise mathematicalrelationships to be defined between cells. The structure and operationof a spreadsheet program, including advanced functions such as functionsand macros, are documented in the technical, trade, and patentliterature. For an overview, see e.g., Cobb, S., Using Quattro Pro 2,Borland-Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1990; and LeBlond, G. and Cobb, D., Using1-2-3, Que corp., 1985. The disclosures of each of the foregoingreferences are hereby incorporated by reference.

Electronic spreadsheets offer many advantages over their papercounterparts. For one, electronic spreadsheets are much larger (i.e.,hold more information) than their paper counterparts; electronicspreadsheets having thousands or even millions of cells are notuncommon. Spreadsheet programs also allow users to perform "what if"scenarios. After a set of mathematical relationships has been enteredinto a worksheet, the spread of information can be recalculated usingdifferent sets of assumptions, with the results of each recalculationappearing almost instantaneously. Performing this operation manually,with paper and pencil, would require recalculating every relationship inthe model with each change made.

While electronic spreadsheets offer significant productivity gains inthe task of complex data modeling, none has been as intuitive to use asordinary paper and pencil--objects already familiar to the user.Instead, the user must master many complex and arbitrary operations. Tofind the proper command for a task at hand, for example, the user musthunt through a complex menuing system, with the desired choice oftenburied under several menus. Even simple tasks can pose a significantchallenge to the user. To change the punctuation format of a number inone prior art spreadsheet, for example, the user must traverse severalnodes of a menu tree, carefully selecting among cryptic menu choicesalong the way. A mistake at any one of the nodes can lead to harshconsequences, including the loss of valuable data.

Finding this approach to be unworkable, many users memorizefrequently-needed commands instead. To accomplish the foregoing task,for example, the user would memorize the command: /Worksheet GlobalDefault Other International. As one can only memorize just so manyarbitrary commands, however, the user typically masters only a verysmall subset of available commands and features. And without constantpractice, these commands tend to be quickly forgotten. Moreover, manyuseful and needed commands are sufficiently hidden in layers of menusthat they are never discovered by the user. All told, the non-intuitiveinterfaces of prior art spreadsheets have led to steep learning curvesfor users. Even after mastering a particular spreadsheet interface, theuser typically only knows a fraction of available commands and features,most of which are easily forgotten.

Even with advances in computer and software technology, electronicspreadsheets have not necessarily become easier to use. Instead,technological advances have been largely employed to build more complexfunctions and 10 modeling features into spreadsheets, often with morecomplicated menu trees; or worse yet, a staggering array of icons whichleave the user even more bewildered. Thus, while prior art spreadsheetshave continued to increase in functionality, they have also greatlyincreased in complexity for the user.

Three dimensionality is one such example. Three-dimensional spreadsheetsallow the user to create a worksheet having cells arranged in a 3-Dgrid. In this manner, the user can manipulate multi-dimensional ranges,i.e., solid blocks of cells. This feature has distinct advantages. Forexample, the user can build a worksheet consisting of multipletwo-dimensional spreads, define 3-D ranges that span these spreads, andcopy a range of rows and columns into each of many 2-D spreads at once.This feature eases difficult choirs, such as consolidation of multiplespreads.

Despite its advantages, three-dimensionality, as presently implemented,is an advanced feature beyond the grasp of many spreadsheet users. Thisis not a necessary result of a three-dimensional model per se but,instead, has resulted from poor implementations of the model in priorart spreadsheet programs. One popular implementation of the model in theprior art, for example, requires the user to manipulate each additionalspread of a three-dimensional spreadsheet as a separate window in agraphical windowing environment. This approach is far from intuitive,however. In particular, this approach requires the user to masteractions which have no counterpart in everyday activities. Whilethree-dimensional spreadsheets provide additional functionality, theyserve to illustrate how non-intuitive implementations of new technologygreatly add to the complexity of the user interface.

What is needed is application software which maintains a highlyintuitive interface. Moreover, the application should implement advancedfeatures, such as three dimensionality, by employing interface objectswhich are familiar to the user. In this manner, the user will not haveto master an elaborate and/or awkward environment but, instead, may relyupon his or her own common fund of knowledge. The present inventionfulfills this and other needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Application software, such as electronic spreadsheets, have found wideapplication in the processing and presentation of information. Despitetheir computational power, however, these programs require users tomaster complex interfaces, adopting abstract representation models whichare beyond the grasp of ordinary users. As a result, much of thecomputational power of these applications goes un-utilized by end users.

The present invention, in contrast, provides system and methods having ahighly intuitive interface for users. More particularly, the presentinvention provides interface objects which are familiar to the user. Inan exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an electronicspreadsheet system includes a notebook interface having a plurality ofnotebook pages, each of which contains a spread of information cells, orother desired page type (e.g., Graphs page).

Methods are provided for rapidly accessing and processing information onthe different pages, including, for example, displaying a plurality ofpage identifiers for selecting individual pages. Additional methods areprovided for editing cells and blocks of cells. In this fashion, thespreadsheet notebook of the present invention provides a convenientmeans for organizing and presenting information. Moreover, thespreadsheet notebook; of the present invention readily accommodatescomplex data (e.g., consolidation across multiple spreads); yet, at thesame time provides the user with a highly intuitive interface, one whichemploys interface objects which are familiar to the user.

The present invention also includes system and methods for convenientlyinspecting and setting the properties of objects. A method for accessingan objects property, in accordance with the present invention, includesreceiving a request from the user for inspection of an object; accessingproperties for the object; and displaying the properties to the user.From the displayed properties, the user may alter the characteristics ofthe object, as desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a computer system in which the presentinvention may be embodied.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of a software system of the presentinvention, which includes operating system, application software, anduser interface components.

FIG. 1C is bitmap screen shots illustrating the basic architecture andfunctionality of a graphical user interface in whip, the presentinvention may be embodied.

FIG. 2A is a screen bitmap illustrating a spreadsheet notebook of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2B is a bitmap of a tool bar component of the spreadsheet of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2C is a screen bitmap illustrating a notebook window from thespreadsheet notebook of the present invention.

FIGS. 2D-E are bitmaps illustrating page identifiers for rapidlyaccessing and manipulating individual pages of the notebook of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 3A-C illustrate navigation (i.e., access of desired information)in the spreadsheet notebook of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A-E are screen bitmaps illustrating the selection of informationcells in the spreadsheet notebook of the present invention.

FIG. 4F is a screen bitmap illustrating the operation of grouping one ormore desired pages in the spreadsheet notebook of the present invention.

FIG. 4G is a screen bitmap illustrating drag-and-drop editing in thespreadsheet notebook of the present invention.

FIGS. 4H-J are a series of screen bitmaps illustrating the model copymethod of the present invention.

FIG. 4K is a set of bitmaps illustrating the operation of movingly andcopying a notebook page.

FIGS. 4L-M are screen bitmaps illustrating the presentation ofinformation in a notebook of the present invention.

FIG. 5A is a screen bitmap illustrating exemplary objects of thespreadsheet notebook of the present invention.

FIGS. 5B-E are bitmaps illustrating property inspectors of the presentinvention, for the objects of FIG. 5A.

FIGS. 6A-K are bitmaps illustrating different states (and accompanyingpanes) for the property inspector of FIG. 5E, each state depending on aparticular property of the object being inspected.

FIG. 7A is a screen bitmap illustrating a graph window of the presentinvention with different graph objects available for propertyinspection.

FIGS. 7B-H are bitmaps illustrating exemplary property inspectors of thepresent invention for the graph objects of FIG. 7A.

FIG. 8A is a block diagram illustrating the structure and operation of aspreadsheet notebook of the present invention.

FIGS. 8B-C illustrate the correspondence between a page table datastructure and pages which are displayed on the screen to the user.

FIGS. 8D-F illustrate the referencing of information in the spreadsheetnotebook of the present invention.

FIG. 9A is a flowchart illustrating a method of the present inventionfor interpreting information references.

FIG. 9B is a flowchart illustrating a method of the present inventionfor drag and drop editing.

FIG. 9C is a flowchart illustrating a method of the present inventionfor model copying.

FIG. 10A is a block diagram illustrating a system class hierarchy of thepresent invention, which is employed for property inspection.

FIG. 10B is a block diagram illustrating the correspondence between aparent object and a child object, and their respective property lists.

FIG. 10C is a flowchart illustrating a method for inspecting and settingproperties of objects, in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10D is a flowchart illustrating a set property method of thepresent invention (substep from the method of FIG. 10C).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

System Hardware

As shown in FIG. 1A, the present invention may be embodied on a computersystem such as the system 100, which comprises a central processor 101,a main memory 102, an input/output controller 103, a keyboard 104, apointing device 105 (e.g., mouse, track ball, pen device, or the like),a display device 106, and a mass storage 107 (e.g., hard disk).Additional input/output devices, such as a printing device 108, may beincluded in the system 100 as desired. As illustrated, the variouscomponents of the system 100 communicate through a system bus 110 orsimilar architecture. In a preferred embodiment, the computer system 100includes an IBM-compatible personal computer, which is available fromseveral vendors (including IBM of Armonk, N.Y.).

Illustrated in FIG. 1B, a computer software system 150 is provided fordirecting the operation of the computer system 100. Software system 150,which is stored in system memory 102 and on disk memory 107, includes akernel or operating system 151 and a shell or interface 153. One or moreapplication programs, such as application software 152, may be "loaded"(i.e., transferred from storage 107 into memory 102) for execution bythe system 100. The system 100 receives user commands and data throughuser interface 153; these inputs may then be acted upon by the system100 in accordance with instructions from operating module 151 and/orapplication module 152. The interface 153, which is preferably agraphical user interface (GUI), also serves to display results,whereupon the user may supply additional inputs or terminate thesession. In a preferred embodiment, operating system 151 is MS-DOS, andinterface 153 is Microsoft® Windows; both are available from MicrosoftCorporation of Redmond, Wash. Application module 152, on the other hand,includes a spreadsheet notebook of the present invention (as describedin further detail hereinbelow).

Interface: User-familiar Objects

A. Introduction

The following description will focus on the presently preferredembodiments of the present invention, which are embodied in spreadsheetapplications operative in the Microsoft Windows environment. The presentinvention, however, is not limited to any particular application or anyparticular environment. Instead, those skilled in the art will find thatthe system and methods of the present invention may be advantageouslyapplied to a variety of system and application software, includingdatabase management systems, wordprocessors, and the like. Moreover, thepresent invention may be embodied on a variety of different platforms,including Macintosh, UNIX, NextStep, and the like. Therefore, thedescription of the exemplary embodiments which follows is for purposesof illustration and not limitation.

Referring now to FIG. 1C, the system 100 includes a windowing interfaceor workspace 160. Window 160 is a rectangular, graphical user interface(GUI) for display on screen 106; additional windowing elements may bedisplayed in various sizes and formats (e.g., tiled or cascaded), asdesired. At the top of window 160 is a menu bar 170 with a plurality ofuser-command choices, each of which may invoke additional submenus andsoftware tools for use with application objects. Window 160 includes aclient area 180 for displaying and manipulating screen objects, such asgraphic object 181 and text object 182. In essence, the client area is aworkspace or viewport for the user to interact with data objects whichreside within the computer system 100.

Windowing interface 160 includes a screen cursor or pointer 185 forselecting and otherwise invoking screen objects of interest. In responseto user movement signals from the pointing device 105, the cursor 185floats (i.e., freely moves) across the screen 106 to a desired screenlocation. During or after cursor movement, the user may generateuser-event signals (e.g., mouse button "clicks" and "drags") forselecting and manipulating objects, as is known in the art. For example,Window 160 may be closed, resized, or scrolled by "clicking" (selecting)screen components 172, 174/5, and 177/8, respectively.

In a preferred embodiment, screen cursor 185 is controlled with a mousedevice. Single-button, double-button, or triple-button mouse devices areavailable from a variety of vendors, including Apple Computers ofCupertino, Calif., Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., and LogitechCorporation of Fremont, Calif., respectively. More preferably, screencursor control device 105 is a two-button mouse device, including bothright and left "mouse buttons." Programming techniques and operationsfor mouse devices are well documented in the programming and hardwareliterature; see e.g., Microsoft Mouse Programmer's Reference, MicrosoftPress, 1989, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference.

B. Spreadsheet Notebooks

In contrast to conventional applications, even those operative in awindowing environment, the present invention includes user-familiarobjects, i.e., paradigms of real-world objects which the user alreadyknows how to use. In an exemplary embodiment, system 100 includes aspreadsheet notebook interface, with such user-familiar objects as pagesand tabs. In this manner, complexities of the system are hidden underordinary, everyday object metaphors. By drawing upon skills which theuser has already mastered, the present invention provides a highlyintuitive interface--one in which advanced features (e.g.,three-dimensionality) are easily learned.

1. General interface

Shown in FIG. 2A, a spreadsheet notebook interface of the presentinvention will now be described. The spreadsheet notebook or workbook ofthe present invention includes a notebook workspace 200 for receiving,processing, and presenting information, including alphanumeric as wellas graphic information. Notebook workspace 200 includes a menu bar 210,a tool bar 220, a current cell indicator 230, an input line 231, astatus line 240, and a notebook window 250. The menu bar 210 displaysand invokes, in response to user inputs, a main level of user commands.Menu 210 also invokes additional pulldown menus, as is known inwindowing applications. Input line 231 accepts user commands andinformation for the entry and editing of cell contents, which mayinclude data, formulas, macros, and the like. Indicator 230 displays anaddress for the current cursor (i.e., active cell) position. At thestatus line 240, system 100 displays information about the current stateof the workbook; for example, a "READY" indicator means that the systemis ready for the user to select another task to be performed.

The tool bar 220, shown in further detail in FIG. 2B, comprises a row orpalette of tools which provide a quick way for the user to choosecommonly-used menu commands or properties. In an exemplary embodiment,tool bar 220 includes cut, copy, and paste buttons 221, a power buttontool 222, a graph tool 223, alignment buttons 224, a style list 225,font buttons 226, insert/delete buttons 227, a fit button 228, andaction buttons 229. Buttons 221 cut, copy and paste data and objects toand from Windows clipboard. The same actions are also available ascorresponding commands in the Edit menu (available from menu bar 210).Tool 220 creates "powerbuttons" which allow a user to run spreadsheetmacros; in a specific embodiment, powerbuttons appear as floatingobjects in a layer above spreadsheet cells. In a similar fashion, thegraph tool 223 creates floating graphs that appear above spreadsheetcells.

Other tools are available for formatting cells. Alignment buttons 224place cell entries flush left, centered, or flush right, as desired. Thestyle list 225 specifies the style for the active block and may beselected from a plurality of pre-defined styles (e.g., normal, currency,fixed, percent, and the like). The font buttons 226 effect font changes,including toggling bold and italic fonts, as well as increasing anddecreasing font (point) size. The insert and delete buttons 227 permitthe user to insert or delete blocks, rows, columns, and pages (describedin further detail hereinbelow), as desired. The fit button 28 allows theuser to quickly tailor a column's width to match its widest cell entry.Action buttons 229 provide automated spreadsheet operations, includingsorting and summing operations. For example, a Sort button, wheninvoked, performs a sort on data in a currently active block. A sumbutton, on the other hand, totals the values in any block of cells bygenerating an @SUM function, just outside a selected range of blocks.

2. Notebook and pages

Notebook 250, shown in further detail in FIG. 2C, provides an interfacefor entering and displaying information of interest. The notebook 250includes a plurality of spreadsheet pages, such as page 251 (Page A).Notebook 250 also includes a "Graphs page" for readily accessing all thegraphs created for the notebook. Each page may include conventionalwindowing features and operations, such as moving, resizing, anddeleting. In a preferred embodiment, the notebook 250 includes 256spreadsheet pages and one Graphs page, all of which are saved as asingle disk file on the mass storage 107. In accordance with the presentinvention, workspace 200 may display one or more notebooks, each sizedand positioned (e.g., tiled, overlaping, and the like) according touser-specified constraints. When a single notebook is used, notebook 250will typically occupy a majority of workspace 200.

Each spreadsheet page of a notebook includes a 2-D spread. For example,spreadsheet page 251 includes a grid in row and column format, such asrow 252 (row 3) and column 255 (col. F). At each row/columnintersection, a box or cell (e.g., cell C4) is provided for entering,processing, and displaying information in a conventional manner. Eachcell is addressable, with a selector 253 being provided for indicating acurrently active one (i.e., the cell that is currently selected).

As shown in FIGS. 2C-E, individual notebook pages are identified by pageidentifiers 260, preferably located along one edge of the notebook 250.In a preferred embodiment, each page identifier is in the form of a tabmember (e.g., members 261a, 262a, 263a) situated along a bottom edge ofthe notebook. Each tab member may include representative indicia, suchas textual or graphic labels, including user-selected titlesrepresenting the contents of a corresponding page. In FIG. 2D, the tabmembers 260 are set to their respective default names. For example, thefirst three tab members (members 261a, 262a, 263a) are respectively setto A, B, and C. In a preferred embodiment, however, tab members aretypically given descriptive names provided by the user. As shown in FIG.2E, for example, the first three tab members have now been set to"Contents" (tab member 261b), "Summary" (tab member 262b), and "Jan"(tab member 263b). In a similar manner, the remaining tabs are set tosubsequent months of the year. In this manner, the user associates thepage identifiers with familiar tabs from an ordinary paper notebook.Thus, the user already knows how to select a page or spread of interest:simply select the tab corresponding to the page (as one would do whenselecting a page from a paper notebook).

In addition to aiding in the selection of an appropriate page ofinformation, the user-customizable page identifiers aid in the entry ofspreadsheet formulas. For example, when entering a formula referring tocells on another page, the user may simply use the descriptive page namein the formula itself (as described hereinbelow), thus making it easierfor the user to understand the relationship of the cell(s) orinformation being referenced.

3. Navigation in a notebook

Referring now to FIGS. 3A-C, movement (i.e., location of desiredinformation cells) within a spreadsheet notebook of the presentinvention is illustrated. To move to different pages in the notebook,the user simply selects the corresponding tab from tabs 260. To move toPage B, for example, the user selects (e.g., with keyboard 104 orpointing device 105) tab 262a; similarly, Page C is reached by selectingtab 263a. Continuing the example, the user may return to Page A byselecting tab 261a. Thus instead of finding information by scrollingdifferent parts of a large spreadsheet, or by invoking multiple windowsof a conventional three-dimensional spreadsheet, the present inventionallows the user to simply and conveniently "flip through" several pagesof the notebook to rapidly locate information of interest.

Notebook 250 also includes supplemental tools for navigation betweenpages, including a tab scroller 271 and a fast-forward button 272. Thetab scroller (shown in two different states: 271a and 271c) permitsaccess to identifiers for pages which are not currently visible on thescreen device 106. If a desired identifier or tab is not currently inview, the user simply activates the tab scroller 271 to revealadditional tabs. The fast-forward button 272, on the other hand,provides immediate access to the last pages of the notebook, includingthe Graphs page. As shown in FIG. 3A and B, after invoking thefast-forward button 272a, the page identifiers for the last pages (e.g.,tabs 261c, 262c, 263c, 265) are accessible. To switch back to thepreviously active spreadsheet page, the user may select or click thefast-forward button 272c again. For navigation within a spreadsheetpage, horizontal and vertical scrollbars 278, 259 are provided; generalfeatures and operations of basic scroller or sliders are described inWindows user and programming literature, including Microsoft's WindowsSoftware Development Kit.

4. Selections and aggregate operations within a notebook

The selection of desired information cells in the notebook of thepresent invention is now described. For selecting a plurality ofinformation cells, both 2-D blocks (e.g., block 254 of FIG. 2C) and 3-Dblocks of cells may be defined. A 2-D block is a rectangular group ofone or more cells and is identified by block coordinates, such as thecell addresses of its upper-left and bottom-right corners. Similarly, a3-D block represents a solid block (e.g., cube) of cells.

A 2-D block is specified by selecting, with mouse 105 or keyboard 104,opposing corners. In FIG. 2C, for example, the block 254 is defined bycorner cells C5 and F14. Additional selection examples are illustratedin FIGS. 4A-E. [or example, column B (col. 411) is selected by clickingcolumn heading 410; similarly, row 3 (row 421) is chosen by clicking rowheading 420. Selection may be additive (i.e., additional selections areappended to the current ones), as shown by selection of a row 420 and acolumn 410 in FIG. 4C. To facilitate the selection of all cell members(e.g., block 431), a select-all button 430 is also provided. In additionto these "contiguous" blocks, non-contiguous block selection (e.g.,selection of blocks 441, 442) is provided by use of a status key (e.g.,CTRL-, ALT-, or SHIFT-) plus a mouse event (e.g., click and dragoperations).

Selection of 3-D cell blocks, i.e., cell ranges spanning more than onepage, occurs in a similar fashion. To extend the block 254 (of FIG. 2C)into a 3-D block, the user specifies an additional or third dimension byselecting an appropriate page identifier. If the user selects the D tabwhile the block 254 is selected (e.g., with a SHIFT or other statuskey), the 2-D block is extended into a 3-D block spanning from Pages Ato D. Additional 3-D operations may be performed by utilizing a methodof the present invention for grouping pages, which will now bedescribed.

Pages may be selected or grouped together, thereby providing a means forchanging multiple pages simultaneously. In much the same manner as cellsfrom a spread are grouped into 2-D blocks, a range of pages are groupedby specifying beginning and ending members. As shown in FIG. 4F, a rangefrom Page A to Page K may be achieved by selecting tabs A (261) and K(267) from identifiers 260, for example, while depressing a key (e.g.,status key). A grouping indicator 268 is displayed for indicatingmembers of a group; groupings may also be annotated with user-specifiedlabels. Once grouped, a page of the group may have its operations (e.g.,selection, data entry, and the like) percolate to the other members ofthe group, as desired. A non-contiguous selection of pages may also beselected (even across different pages); for example, a selection ofPages A and D, but not B and C, may be achieved by selecting tabs A andD while depressing a second key (e.g., CTRL- key). Furthermore, groupsmay overlap (i.e., a page can be in more than one group), as desired. Byselectively activating a group mode (e.g., by toggling group button273), groupings may be temporarily turned off, in which case events arenot percolated to other members of the group.

With group mode active, an activity in a page which is a member of agroup can also affect similarly situated cells of the other pages of thegroup. For example, information entered in a cell on one page of thegroup can also propagate to the same (relative) cell in other pages ofthe group; data entry may be "drilled" (propagated) to other group pagesby concluding data entry, for example, with a "Ctrl-Enter" keystroke(instead of a "Enter" command). For instance, an entry into cell C4 ofPage A may also conveniently and automatically appear in cell C4 ofpages B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, and K, for an A-K grouping. Similarly,block or aggregate operations may propagate across member pages. Forexample, a block operation (e.g., Block Fill) for cells A1 to C4 in PageA in an A-D grouping would also operate (in this case, fill information)in the same cells (i.e., from A1 to C4) for Page B to Page D.

Employing the user-specified page identifiers of the present invention,a simple nomenclature is available for specifying these solid blocks ofinformation. In a preferred embodiment, a solid block is specified by:

    <<First Page>> . . . <<Last Page>>: <<First Cell>> . . . <<Last Cell>>

For example, a solid block may be defined as A . . . D:A1 . . . C4, inwhich case the block spans from cells A1 to C4, and spans across PagesA-D. By permitting alias names (i.e., user-supplied alternative labels),the present invention allows the block to be specified as 1989 Sales . .. 1992 Sales: A1 . . . C4; or even 1989 Sales . . . 1992,Sales: FirstQuarter . . . Third Quarter. Additionally, the present invention readilyaccommodates notebook information as well, for example, [TAX]1989 Sales. . . 1992 Sales: First Quarter . . . Third Quarter, thus permittinginformation to be linked across various notebooks. Wildcard characters(e.g., * and ?) may also be employed for cell, page, and notebookidentifiers, as desired. Thus, the spreadsheet notebook of the presentinvention provides a 3-D interface which readily accommodates real-worldinformation in a format the user understands (instead of forcing theuser to adapt his or her information to fit an arbitrary spreadsheetmodel).

5. Advanced Editing

Whether 2-D or 3-D in nature, blocks of cells may be easily copied andcut (i.e., moved) using drag-and-drop editing techniques of the present:invention. As shown in FIG. 4G for a 2-D block, for example, a methodfor copying a block of cells includes (1) selecting a source block bydragging a range of cells (e.g., mouse button-down events coupled withmouse movement across the range; close selection with a button-upevent), (2) dragging the block (e.g., click within block, followed byrepeated mouse button-down events), and (3) dropping the block (e.g.,mouse button-up event at desired target location). In a similar fashion,3-D blocks may be dragged and dropped.

In typical cut and copy operations, relative and absolute celladdressing is employed, as is known in the art (see e.g., Using 1-2-3).According to the present invention, however, a "model copy" techniquefor copying blocks is also provided. Model copying, illustrated in FIGS.4H-J, is useful when the user is copying a block that contains absolutereferences to cells within the copied block. In FIG. 4H, a small spreadmodel 496 is shown which contains a formula to figure the monthlypayment for a 30-year loan at different interest rates; a reference tothe loan amount was entered as absolute so that when the formula iscopied, it continues to refer to cell B1. The user may want to calculate(at the same time) monthly payments for different loan amounts and,thus, might copy the model, with the loan amount changed (shown in FIG.4I as spread 497). However, in this approach the absolute referencestill refers to row 1; to correct this, the user would typicallymanually edit each formula to refer to B6 instead of B1.

With model copying of the present invention enabled (e.g., by default orthrough a user dialog), however, the problem is solved. In particular,absolute references adjust to the new location of the referenced cell,as shown by spread 498 in FIG. 4J; however, absolute references remainabsolute to make future copies absolute. For instance, should the usermake more copies of the formula, the reference to cell B6 is stillabsolute. In this manner, model copying of the present invention savesthe user time-consuming and error-prone editing of formulas.

As shown in FIG. 4K, notebook pages may be copied or moved using thedrag-and-drop editing techniques of the present invention (a dialog boxis also provided as an alternative). As shown, for example, the "Salads"page is moved by selecting its tab identifier 264a from the identifiers260; in a preferred method, the identifier is selected by dragging itdownward (mouse button-down plus downward movement) with the mousecursor. Next, the identifier is dragged to a desired new position (mousebutton-down plus left and right movement). Once positioned at a desiredlocation (as indicated by in-transit tab identifier 264b), the page isthen "dropped" (mouse button-up) into position. Similarly, a "copy"operation may be effected by coupling the above operation with a statuskey (e.g., CTRL-); in a preferred method of copying, only the pageinformation (not its tab identifier) is copied to a target location.

Additional editing operations may be easily accomplish using the pageidentifiers of the present invention. For example, an additional pagemay be inserted by selecting a desired tab and entering "INS" (keyboardor mouse). Similarly, a notebook page may be deleted by coupling theselection of a corresponding page tab to a delete command.

6. Advantages

In contrast to prior art spreadsheet implementations, use of thespreadsheet notebook of the present invention is easily ascertained bythe user. The notebook interface of the present invention provides aconvenient means for organizing many spreadsheets together into onefile. This permits the user to load (into memory 102) all relatedinformation with a single command, without having to remember a varietyof different file names. Moreover, the notebook interface 250 encouragesa user to spread data out among multiple pages, thus better organizingone's data. In FIG. 4L, for example, spreadsheet page 300 illustratesthe conventional method for grouping unrelated information onto a singlespreadsheet. As shown in column B, the incorporation of unrelatedinformation into a single spread leads to unnecessary whitespace paddingof information. In FIG. 4M, in contrast, related information is groupedon separate pages 351, 352 (e.g., with their own columns, Col. B₁ andCol. B₂) of notebook 350. Not only does this eliminate grouping ofdisparate information, with its disadvantages (e.g., padding dataentries), but it also encourages better organization of information.

Inspecting and Setting the Properties of Objects

A. Disadvantages of Prior Techniques

Standard windowing interfaces depend heavily on a clunky system ofpull-down menus. While pull-down menus are an improvement overcommand-line (e.g., MS-DOS) interfaces, they are non-metaphoric ornon-analogous to ordinary objects, i.e., ones familiar to the user.Thus, prior art windowing GUIs are no more intuitive or useful to theuser than other menuing systems.

Perhaps the biggest weakness of pull-down menus is the requirement thatthe user must know beforehand which menu contains the item or functionof interest. If the user does not know which pull-down menu, submenu, ordialog box contains the item he or she is seeking, the user will spendan inordinate amount of time checking the contents of each in an effortto hunt down the needed item. And often the search is in vain. Moreover,since functions for a given object (e.g., text object) are oftenscattered over several disparate menus, the user is discouraged frominteracting and experimenting with the object.

One approach to overcoming this problem has been the implementation of"smart icons." This interface technique employs screen buttons paintedwith icons which are supposed to tell the user what the buttons do. Thisapproach, however, often makes the interface problem even worse becausethe meaning of the icons are not easily grasped. Thus, the approach isoften no more helpful than hiding the desired function deep inside amenuing system. Worse, some button images are so small or so numerousthat it is hard to see the icons well enough to discern what they mean.

B. Property Inspectors

1. Introduction

Overcoming this problem, the present invention provides "propertyinspectors" for inspecting and setting the properties of objects.Property inspectors of the present invention examine an object ofinterest to the user and tell the user what can be done to it. In thismanner, the present invention requires the system and its interfacecomponents (e.g., menus or dialog boxes), not the user, to know whatfunctions are being sought or may be of immediate interest to the user.Moreover, property inspectors of the present invention require theprogram to present functions to the user when and where he or sherequests them, rather than making the user hunt for them when they areneeded. Thus, the user need only know which data item or object he orshe wants to inspect or manipulate.

In the spreadsheet notebook, for example, there are many kinds ofobjects which one can use. Examples include cells, blocks of cells,pages, notebooks, graphs and their elements (including bars or axes),dialog boxes, and even the application program itself. Each of theseobjects has properties, which are characteristics of that particularobject. For example, blocks of cells have a font property that can beset to bold, so that the text of entries in the block appear in boldfacetype. A property of a workbook page, on the other hand, is the name thatappears on its tab. Each notebook has its own palette property forcontrolling available colors. Application properties, for instance,include system defaults, such as a default storage directory or fileextension. Thus in any system, the user has a variety of objectsavailable, each of which has its own set of properties.

Property inspection of the present invention provides the user withimmediate access to an object's properties. If the object of interest isa spreadsheet cell, for example, the property inspector of the presentinvention produces a menu that includes font, color, border, size, andother display properties, along with formula properties which may bemodified. If, on the other hand, the object is a graph, the propertyinspector will display a menu to change its color, shape, borders, andother features of a spreadsheet graph. Moreover, inspection menus arestate or context-sensitive, i.e., constructed on-the-fly to reflect thecurrent state of the object. If an object's properties change so thatwhat a user can do to it also changes, the property inspector of thepresent invention will create a new and appropriate menu reflectingthose changes.

A variety of user events, including keyboard and mouse events, may beemployed to invoke property inspection and setting. In a preferredmethod of the present invention, however, an object is inspected byselecting the object with a screen cursor, i.e., clicking (generating amouse event) on the object. Since, according to the present invention,property inspection may be available across different modes of operation(i.e., generally available at all times), the generated mouse event orsignal is preferably one which does not launch or otherwise invokeroutine object actions. Instead, the mouse signal should be one whichthe user will easily associate with inspection of an object. In a two orthree mouse button embodiment of the present invention, therefore, thegenerated mouse signal is most preferably from the lesser-used or rightmouse button (e.g., Windows' WM₋₋ RBUTTONDOWN). In this manner, the userassociates object actions with left button signals and object inspectionwith right button signals.

2. Exemplary Embodiments

Referring now to FIGS. 5A-E, the inspecting and setting of objectproperties, in accordance with the present invention, is illustrated. InFIG. 5A, a notebook application window 500 is shown. Window 500 includesa variety of objects which may be inspected by the property inspector ofthe present invention. The top-most object is the application itself:application object 510. By selecting the application object (e.g., byright mouse clicking on the application title bar), various propertiesfor the application may be inspected and set. As shown in FIG. 5B,inspection of the application object 510 invokes application inspector515, which lists the various properties of the application object; theuser may now inspect and set the properties of the object, as desired.

Referring back to FIG. 5A, the next level which may be inspected is thenotebook object 520. User inspection of this object, e.g., by rightmouse clicking on the notebook title bar, invokes the active notebookproperty inspector 525 of FIG. 5C. In a manner similar to theapplication property inspector, the notebook property inspector 525includes all the properties and corresponding options which may be setfor the notebook 520.

Notebook object 520 includes a plurality of page objects, which maythemselves be inspected. To inspect the page object 550, for example,the user brings the page tab into view (if it is not already displayed),then right clicks the page tab. This action invokes the active pageproperty inspector 535, as shown in FIG. 5D. With access to pageproperties, the user can control the page name, overall page protection,line color, colors in cells that meet certain conditions, default labelalignment, whether zeroes are displayed, default column width, row andcolumn borders, gridline display, and the like. To assign a moredescriptive name to a page, for example, its tab is inspected and theoption "NAME" is selected from the page property inspector (or, asshown, it is selected by default). After the user enters a new name, thenew name appears on the page tab. Other page properties, most of whichaffect the appearance of data or screen elements, may be set in asimilar manner.

Each page object may also contain other objects, including cells, blocksof cells, graph objects, and the like, each of which may be inspected.By right clicking the active block 530, the active block propertyinspector 545 is opened as shown in FIG. 5E. With block properties, theuser can change alignment of entries, numeric format of values, blockprotection, line drawing, shading, font, text color, types of dataallowed in a cell, row height, column width, and whether columns or rowsare revealed or hidden; inspection of a single cell occurs in a similarmanner (i.e., active block is one cell). In this manner, the user mayselect block properties which affect the appearance of cell entries orof rows or columns; additionally, properties which affect the way datacan be entered into blocks, such as protection and data entry input, maybe made.

Upon invocation of property inspection, a dialog box or propertyinspector is displayed, preferably at or near the object of interest. Adifferent property inspector appears depending on the type of objectwhich is inspected. At this point, the user may then select the propertythat he or she wishes to change from a list of object properties. Thecontents of the right side of the inspector (i.e., a "pane" within theinspector) change to correspond to the property one chooses, as shown.Then, the user chooses settings for the current property. If desired,the user can then choose and set other properties for the currentobject. In a preferred embodiment, the property inspector includes anexample box, which shows the display result of the property the user hasjust set, before they are applied to the actual object.

Referring now to FIGS. 6A-K, the construction and operation of aproperty inspector dialog box, in accordance with the present invention,is described. For purposes of illustration, the following descriptionwill present active block property inspector 600; other inspectordialogs may be implemented in a similar fashion. Shown in FIG. 6A, theactive block property inspector 600 includes an object property list 601and property settings pane 602. For an active block, for example,relevant properties include Numeric Format, Font, Shading, Alignment,Line Drawing, Protection, Text Color, Data Entry Input, Row Height,Column Width, and Reveal/Hide. Property settings pane 602 include thevalid options or settings which a property may take. For the property ofnumeric format, for example, valid settings include fixed, scientific,currency, and the like. Property setting pane 602 may further includesubproperties. For example, the currency setting 602a shown may alsoinclude a decimal place setting 602b. In this manner, property inspectordialog 600 presents a notebook dialog: property list 601 serves asnotebook tabs (e.g., dialog tab 601a) and property settings panes 602serves as different pages of the notebook dialog. Thus, the user mayaccess numerous dialog options with the efficiency of a notebook.

Also shown, property inspector dialog 600 also includes an examplewindow 605 and dialog controls 603. As new properties are selected andset, their net effect is shown. The example element in example window605, for example, shows the effect of selecting a numeric format ofcurrency with two decimal places. Thus, the user may experiment withchanges before they are applied to the data object. After desiredproperty changes are entered, control components 603 are invoked toeither accept ("OK button") or reject ("CANCEL button") the new propertysettings; if desired, help may be requested.

As shown in FIGS. 6B-K, other properties of a cell block are accessed byselecting the desired property from the property list 601. Thus theactive blocks property inspector 600 changes to inspector 620 for fontproperties, inspector 625 for shading properties, inspector 630 foralignment properties, inspector 635 for line drawing properties,inspector 640 for cell protection properties, inspector 645 for textcolor properties, inspector 650 for data entry input properties,inspector 655 for row height properties, inspector 660 for column widthproperties, and inspector 665 for reveal/hide properties. In eachinstance, a new pane (i.e., one having the attributes of interest) isdisplayed in the inspector window.

Referring now to FIGS. 7A-H, the inspection (and setting) of propertiesfor graphs is illustrated. Graph window 700 includes a plurality ofgraph objects, each of which may be customized through use of acorresponding property inspector of the present invention. To display acorresponding property inspector, the user invokes the inspector (e.g.,right-clicks) for the part (object) of the graph he or she wishes tochange. A right-click on the graph window object 710, for example, willinvoke the graph window inspector 715; at this point, the user mayinspect and set various properties of the graph window object. In asimilar manner, other objects of the graph window may be inspected. Forexample, inspection of graph background 720 invokes inspector 725,Y-axis object 730 invokes inspector 735, X-axis 740 invokes inspector745, area fill object 750 invokes inspector 755, bar series object 760invokes inspector 765, and bar series object 770 invokes inspector 775.

Internal Operations

A. Introduction

Internal operations of the system 100 will now be described in detail.In general, operation is driven by methods of the present invention,which are invoked by Windows' message dispatcher in response to systemor user events. The general mechanism for dispatching messages in anevent-based system, such as Windows, is known in the art; see, e.g.,Petzold, C., Programming Windows, Second Edition, Microsoft Press, 1990.Additional information can be found in Microsoft's Window SoftwareDevelopment Kit, including: 1) Guide to Programming, 2) Reference, Vols.1 and 2, and 3) Tools, all available from Microsoft Corp. of Redmond,Wash. Of particular interest to the present invention are classhierarchies and methods of the present invention, which are implementedin the C++ programming language; see e.g., Ellis, M. and Stroustrup, B.,The Annotated C++ Reference Manual, Addison-Wesley, 1990. Additionalinformation about object-oriented programming and C++ in particular canbe found in Borland's C++ 3.0: 1) User's Guide,2) Programmer's Guide,and 3) Library Reference, all available from Borland International ofScotts Valley, Calif. The disclosures of each of the foregoing arehereby incorporated by reference.

B. Notebooks

Referring now to FIG. 8A, the internal structure and operation ofspreadsheet notebooks of the present invention will be described. Thespreadsheet notebook system of the present invention includes a systemhierarchy 800, at the top level, having a notebook table 805 withentries or slots for accessing a plurality of notebooks. For example,the first slot addresses or points to notebook 810. In this manner, thesystem may track multiple notebooks.

Notebook structure 810, in turn, includes or accesses various datamembers for a particular notebook. For example, a "Name" field, storesthe name assigned for the notebook. This name is displayed in thetitlebar for the notebook and is used as the name for the correspondingdisk file; the notebook name is also used to reference the notebook informulas (e.g., contained in other notebooks). Notebook 810 alsoincludes other data members, such as block names and fonts. Block namesare text strings or labels which the user has defined for particularblocks of interest. Fonts, on the other hand, include font information(e.g., type and size) for the notebook. Other desired properties,specific to a notebook, may be included as desired. As exemplaryconstruction of a notebook structure (class), in accordance with thepresent invention, is set forth hereinbelow in Appendix A.

Of particular interest in the notebook structure 810 is the Pagetablefield, which includes a pointer to a page table for the notebook.Pagetable 815 includes a plurality of slots or entries for accessingindividual page structures of the notebook. Each page structure, inturn, contains or accesses information of interest to an individualpage. As shown, for example, page 820 (pointed to by the first slot ofthe pagetable) includes or accesses: a sheet table (or Graphs page), apagename, floating objects (e.g., graphs and buttons), page properties,pane, and the like.

The Sheettable field of the page 820 points to a sheet table 825. It, inturn, includes a plurality of the slots for accessing different columnstrips. As shown, for example, the first entry in the sheet table 825accesses a column strip of cells 830. In turn, column strip 830addresses individual information cells, each of which may have one of avariety of information types, including empty, integer, number (real),formula, label, and the like. In a preferred embodiment, column strip830 may address up to 8,000 cells; those skilled in the art, however,will appreciate that column strip 830 may be set to any desired range(depending on the limits of one's target hardware).

Referring now to FIGS. 8B-C, the function of the page table of thepresent invention is illustrated. In FIG. 8B, two images are presented:a view image and a data image. The view image illustrates what the usersees on the screen 106; at startup, for example, only a single Page A(page 850) is active. As shown by the corresponding data imagesupporting this view image, pagetable 855 includes only a singlereference, page A. In turn, page A references sheettable_(A), whichsupports the information cells required (e.g., they are currently neededfor display) for the page. Thus, at startup, only a single page entryexists in the pagetable 855, even though the screen displays multiplepage tabs.

Upon selection of Page F (e.g., by clicking tab F 860), the data imagechanges, however. As shown in FIG. 8C, remaining Pages B-F areinitialized into the page table 865. In this example, Page F must nowexist as a view object. Thus, Page F references supporting datastructures (e.g., sheettable_(F)). The intervening Pages (B-E), on theother hand, are initialized, but only to the extent that they can serveas place holders in the pagetable 865. In this manner, the underlyingpage table for a notebook instantiates underlying page data structuresonly as needed (e.g., for viewing or referencing by other pages), but,at the same time, provides on-demand access to pages.

A particular advantage of this design is the ease in which informationmay be referenced and presented. Even complex data models, such as thosespanning multiple dimensions, may be represented in a clear fashion.Moreover, a syntax is provided by the present invention for intuitivelyreferencing information.

Referring now to FIGS. 8D-F, the referencing of information in aspreadsheet notebook of the present invention is now described. Shown inFIG. 8D, a three-dimensional reference (i.e., identifier for a solidblock of information cells) includes a notebook, starting page, endingpage, starting cell and ending cell. As shown, the notebook (which isthe same as the file name) is identified preferably by delimiters, suchas brackets ([]). This is followed by page name(s), which may in fact begrouped. As shown, a range of pages has been defined from '89 Income to'92 Income; these are alias names which may correspond to pages A-D, forexample.

Next, one or more cells of interest are identified. For example, a rangefrom January to (. . . ) December is shown, which serve as aliases forblocks A1 to A12, for example. The block or cell information isseparated from group or page information, for example, by a colon (:)identifier.

The hierarchy of this nomenclature is shown in FIG. 8E. Specifically, anotebook references pages, which may be members of one or moreuser-defined groups. In turn, a page references cells, which mayalternatively be referenced by alias identifiers. As shown in FIG. 8F,page and cell identifiers may be grouped to form even more succinctreferences. For example, Pages '89 Income to '92 Income may be renamedas Four-Year Income. Similarly, the cell range from January to Decembermay be renamed Entire Year. In this manner, information ranges in thespreadsheet notebook of the present invention are easily named andeasily visualized by the user.

Depending on the context of the system, certain identifiers may beassumed and, thus, eliminated from a reference. Unless otherwisespecified, for example, the notebook identifier is assumed to be thecurrently active notebook. Similarly, the page identifier may be assumedto be the currently active page, unless the user specifies otherwise.Thus, a valid reference need only include as much information(identifiers) as is necessary to access the desired information.

Referring now to FIG. 9A, a method for interpreting or parsing aninformation reference, in accordance with the present invention, isshown. Upon receiving a reference (e.g., text string) to information ina spreadsheet notebook, the method proceeds as follows. In step 901, aloop is established to tokenize (i.e., parse) the string into individualidentifiers, which may then be processed. Each token is examined asfollows. In step 902, the token is checked to determine whether it is anotebook identifier. In a preferred method, a notebook identifier isdelimited, for example, by bracket symbols; alternatively, a notebookidentifier may be realized simply by the position of the identifierrelative to other tokens in the string, or by its relationship to disk(notebook) files on mass storage 107. If the notebook is successfullyidentified, the notebook identifier is returned at step 903, and themethod loops back to step 901 for any additional tokens.

If it is not a notebook (no at step 902), however, then in step 904 thetoken is examined to determine whether it is a group name. Group namesmay be determined by accessing group names listed for the notebook(e.g., by accessing a group name string pointer from notebook structure810), and/or by the token's context (e.g., preceding a ":" delimiter).If a group name is identified, it is returned at step 905, and themethod loops for any remaining tokens. Otherwise (no at step 904), thetoken is examined to determine whether it is a page. In a manner similarto that for checking group names, a page may be identified by examininga notebook's page table, with corresponding page name accessed(dereferenced). The page is returned at step 907, with the methodlooping back to step 901 for remaining tokens.

If a page is not found (no at step 906), however, then at step 908 thetoken is examined to determine whether it defines a range. A range mayinclude a named block of cells (e.g., "entire year") or, simply, twocell addresses separated by an appropriate identifier (e.g., A1 . . .B1). If a range is found, then it is returned in step 909, with themethod looping for any remaining tokens. Otherwise (no at step 908), theidentifier is examined to determine whether it is a cell. A token may beidentified as a cell if it is of the appropriate column/row format(e.g., A1). If a cell is found, it is returned at step 911, with themethod looping for any remaining tokens.

As shown (conceptually) at step 912, if any ambiguities remain, they maybe resolved according to an order of precedence; for example,notebook >groupname>page and the like. At the conclusion of the method,a reference, if it is in proper form, will be successfully identifiedand may now be processed according to three-dimensional techniques.

Referring now to FIGS. 9B-C, other methods of the present invention areillustrated. In FIG. 9B, for example, a drag-and-drop edit method 920 ofthe present invention is shown. Its steps are as follows. In step 921, ablock of cells is defined (e.g., by dragging a mouse cursor from onecorner of the block to another). After a block has been selected, it isnext grabbed with the mouse cursor (i.e., position the mouse cursorwithin the block and depress a mouse button). In steps 923 and 924, aloop is established to "drag" the block to a new location. Inparticular, while the mouse button is depressed, any movement of themouse will cause the block to follow (animated on screen, e.g., by XORtechnique). At step 925, the block is "dropped" into place by releasingthe mouse button (button up signal). Dropping the block causesinformation from the source location to be copied into the targetlocation. By coupling the method with a status key (e.g., SHIFT- orCTRL-), the technique supports either "cut" (erase original) or "copy"(leave original) modes of operation. Thus, for example, if a status keyis not active as step 926, then in step 927 the original (at the sourcelocation) is deleted. Otherwise (yes at step 926), the original remainsat the source location as well.

Referring now to FIG. 9C, a model copy method 940 of the presentinvention is illustrated. In step 941, a block is defined or selected(e.g., dragging a selection). In step 942, model copy is enabled ordisabled (as desired); alternatively, model copy may be enabled bydefault. In step 943 if model copy has been enabled, then in step 945absolute address references are copied as if they were relative addressreferences, as previously described (with reference to FIGS. 4H-J).However, the address labels will remain absolute, so that they will betreated as absolute for future copying operations. Otherwise (no at step943), absolute addresses are treated conventionally (i.e., referencingabsolute addresses) in step 944. As shown in step 946, relativeaddresses are not affected, i.e., they continue to be treatedrelatively. In step 947, the copy operation is performed, employing theaddresses as just determined, after which the method concludes.

Additional methods of the present invention are set forth hereinbelow inAppendix A

C. Property Inspection

Referring now to FIGS. 10A-C, construction and operation of propertyinspection in accordance with the principles of the present inventionwill be described. As shown in FIG. 10A, user interface (UI) objects areconstructed from a UI object class hierarchy 1000. As shown, classhierarchy 1000 includes as its base class an object class 1001. Fromobject class 1001, a responder class 1002 is derived. As the child ofclass 1001, responder class 1002 inherits all properties of its parentand adds event handling capability. Both object class 1001 and responderclass 1002 are abstract classes, i.e., objects are not instantiated fromthem directly. From responder class 1002, two child classes are derived:view class 1003 and window class 1004. From view class 1003, all screenobjects (e.g., text, graphs, scrollbars, and the like) are created. Fromwindow class 1004, container objects are instantiated; in particular,window class 1004 provides container objects which hold the various viewobjects.

Associated with each class (and thus objects derived from each class) isa ClassInfo structure. ClassInfo, which is itself implemented as aseparate class, contains information about a corresponding class and,thus, objects of that class. For example, it contains information aboutobject type, name, number of properties, and the like. Of particularrelevance to property inspection are two data members: a pointer to theparent and a property record pointer which points to an array ofproperty records for an object of interest.

Referring now to FIG. 10B, the relationship between parent and child(and hence the importance of the pointer to the parent) is illustrated.In the system of the present invention, an object-oriented mechanism isemployed whereby new objects may be created from existing objects(classes). As shown, for example, a child object 1030 may be derivedfrom a parent object 1020. Also shown, each object has its own propertyrecord array or list. For example, the parent object 1020 has a propertylist 1025 describing its properties. Child object 1030, in turn, alsohas its own property list 1035; child object 1030 still inherits fromparent object 1020, however. By means of the parent pointer, the childobject 1030 also has direct access to its parent 1020 and, thus, theproperty list 1025 of the parent. In this manner, when an object isinspected, the system of the present invention may view back across theinheritance hierarchy to fetch all (ancestor) properties for the object,as needed.

The property record, on the other hand, describes an individual propertyfor the object. The property record, which is implemented as a separateclass, includes a name ID for the property and a pointer to the propertyobject itself (which may be shared). For example, property recordobjects may be instantiated from the following exemplary C++ classdefinition:

    __________________________________________________________________________    class .sub.-- EXPORT.sub.--  PropRecord                                       public:                                                                       Property * pProp;                                                                            // pointer to SHARED (!) property object                       WORDnameID;    // property name string ID                                                    // (PROPSTR.HPP, PROPSTR.CPP)                                  WORDflags;     // optional information about the property                                    // ( HIDDEN, USE MENU, LINK ONLY, etc.)                        inline Property * getProp ();                                                 inline LPSTR getName ();                                                      inline PROPTYPE getType ();                                                   inline WORD getNamesCnt ();                                                   inline WORD getNameID ();                                                     inline WORD getFlags ();                                                      };                                                                            __________________________________________________________________________

The property object, in turn, includes a type ID for identifying theproperty and also includes a pointer to a dialog for the property. Anproperty object may be instantiated from the following exemplary C++class:

    __________________________________________________________________________    class .sub.-- EXPORT.sub.--   Property                                        public:                                                                       static DWORD dwPropErr;                                                       static char far conversionBuffer [MAXPROPSTR];                                PROPTYPE typeID;                                                              WORD namesCnt;                                                                LPSTR pDialog;                                                                Property ( WORD id );                                                         virtual BOOL stringToValue ( LPSTR, PROPTYPE pt = 0 );                        virtual BOOL valueToString ( LPSTR, PROPTYPE pt = 0 );                        /*                                                                            Convert the passed binary value to string using the conversionBuffer          */                                                                            LPSTR convertToString ( LPSTR pS, PROPTYPE pt );                              /*                                                                            Convert the string in conversionBuffer to binary value pointed by pS          */                                                                            BOOL convertToBinary ( LPSTR pS, PROPTYPE pt );                               };                                                                            __________________________________________________________________________

Exemplary property types may include:

prop₋₋ Undefined=0,

prop₋₋ Text,

prop₋₋ Bool,

prop₋₋ Window,

prop₋₋ Color,

prop₋₋ Bitmap,

prop₋₋ List,

prop₋₋ Word,

prop₋₋ Int,

prop₋₋ Key,

prop₋₋ Double,

. .

The pointer to the property dialog (LPSTR pDialog), on the other hand,indicates the appropriate dialog to be displayed to the user for thecurrent property; the dialog displays the appropriate information (e.g.,pane) for the property which the user may then use for inspecting andsetting attributes of that property.

Referring now to FIG. 10C, a method 1050 for property inspection, inaccordance with the present invention, is illustrated; additionaldisclosure is provided for the inspection of an exemplary object: aspreadsheet cell. In step 1051, the user indicates that he or shedesires property inspection for an object. In a preferred method of theinvention, the user will right-mouse click on the object of interest (asset forth hereinabove). To inspect a spreadsheet cell, for example, theuser would position the mouse cursor over the cell and click the rightmouse button. In this instance, the notebook which contains that cellwill receive (i.e., will be the recipient of) a right-mouse button downmessage. The event will be processed by routing the message to aRightMouseDown method.

In step 1052, the object which the user clicked on is identified by theRightMouseDown method. Specifically, the method invokes aRouteMouseEvent method which returns the current view object (i.e., theobject which the user has clicked on). This is accomplished as follows.Every view object contains a StartInspect method which returns an actualobject for inspection. The object which appears on the screen to theuser (i.e., view object) is not necessarily the object which will beinspected. For example, it would be computationally too expensive tohave each cell of a spreadsheet be its own object. Instead, the presentinvention embraces the notion of surrogate or imaginary objects whichmay be inspected (using the properties of the screen or view objectselected). In most instances, the StartInspect method will return anobject for inspection which is the same as the view object. In thoseinstances where it is not feasible to inspect an object which the userperceives on a screen, however, the method returns a surrogate objectwhose properties assume the attributes of the screen object.

An additional example illustrates this point. When inspecting a block ofcells, for example, StartInspect returns a current block object which isa surrogate object, i.e., it does not have a visible expression on thescreen. Instead, it is a substitute object which assumes thecharacteristics necessary to allow inspection of the screen object ofinterest. In this manner, it functions as a surrogate for the objectwhich the user observes on the screen. If desired, objects may also beblocked from inspection at this step (e.g., by setting flags); in whichcase, the method terminates. At the conclusion of step 1052, the objectof interest, either actual or surrogate, is ready for inspection.

Next, the user interface for inspection is built by a DoUI method of thepresent invention. The method proceeds as follows. The first propertyrecord for the object is accessed in step 1053. Preferably, DoUI is avirtually defined method, with each object (class) designed to includemethod steps for accessing the property record according to thatobject's own particularities. The remaining property records for theobject are also located (e.g., by traversing a list of records).

At step 1054, the dialog panes for each property are loaded (e.g., intomemory 102, if not already present) for use by a compound dialog box. Aspreviously described, the dialog associated with each property isaccessible from the property record (by a pointer to the dialog). Atthis point, an empty property inspection window is displayed. Into theproperty inspection window, a corresponding pane for each property isloaded (substep 1054b), thus creating a display hierarchy. Using agetProperty method, each property is initially set to the attribute(s)contained in the retrieved property record; the getProperty methodoperates essentially the reverse of a setProperty method, which isdescribed in detail hereinbelow. An associated screen button or label isprovided for rapidly accessing a desired pane in the inspector window,in much the same fashion as one accesses pages in a notebook with tabs.In this manner, a property inspector is built from a dynamic list ofproperties (as opposed to a static list of properties which isdetermined beforehand), each of which may be rapidly accessed by theuser.

While the property list loaded into an inspector window for each objectis dynamically constructed, the panes supporting each property may bepre-built. For example, the pane supporting a color palette, since it iscomplex in design, will be built in advance.

However, the method of the present invention may dynamically buildindividual panes as well. Candidates for dynamic pane building includesimple properties, especially those which may have only a Boolean oryes/no value. Referring back to FIG. 7B, for example, inspector 715includes a snap-to-grid property. Instead of loading a preconstructedpane for this property, the method of the present invention dynamicallyconstructs an appropriate pane (in this case, a simple check box), asshown in substep 1054a. An automatic list, on the other hand, istypically a simple group box (i.e., one having a plurality of radiobuttons), which is preferably constructed dynamically, as shown by theinspector window 650 of FIG. 6H. In either case, the method may buildappropriate inspector dialog components on-the-fly by simply examining aparticular property and discerning its possible attributes. In a similarmanner, "pick" lists of properties may be constructed and displayed, asshown in substep 1054c. A property pick list serves as an index to otherproperty lists or other functions, as desired. By dynamically buildinginspectors for simpler properties, the method conserves systemresources.

Construction of the inspector window is completed by inserting dialogcontrols (e.g., "OK", "CANCEL", and "HELP") for operating the dialog. Inaddition, an example window is displayed for indicating various changesto the properties of an object. This is accomplished by sending amessage to the inspected object setting forth the current properties inthe dialog; the inspected object returns an example or sample objectwhich may then be displayed in the window. After changing a property,the dialog tab or button (e.g., tab 601a of FIG. 6A) corresponding tothat property is updated (e.g., different font or screen color) forindicating that a change has been entered.

After constructing the property inspector dialog or window, at step 1055the method enters a user event loop where the user inspects and setsvarious properties of the object by accessing the property (through thescreen button or tab) and setting a new attribute. At the conclusion ofthe user event (e.g., by selecting "OK" or "CANCEL"), the user event isterminated.

At step 1056, the property list for the object being inspected isupdated for any changes which occurred to the properties during the userevent (of step 1055). This is accomplished by calling a setPropertymethod, which conceptually loops through each pane which has changed andupdates the property list, accordingly. By way of illustration, thesetProperty method may be defined as:

    virtual BOOL setProperty(LPSTR lpPropStr, LPSTR lpValueStr, PROPTYPE pt=0);

The method receives the name of a property, either passed as a textstring (lpPropStr) or as a handle (pt), and a value for that property,typically passed as a text string (lpValueStr).

Referring now to FIG. 10D, the general steps of a setProperty method1070 are illustrated. In step 1071, the property text string istranslated[; alternatively, the property is referenced directly bypassing a handle (i.e., integer or word value). At steps 1072-1073, theproperty is updated for the property value passed (e.g., by a CASEstatement construct). If the property is not acted upon, it may bepassed up the object's inheritance chain for action by an ancestorobject, at step 1074. In this fashion, the values collected from thevarious property panes are used by the method to set the propertieswithin the object.

While the foregoing outlines the general steps or framework forsetProperty, the method is in fact defined as a virtual method. Thus,each class of objects may assume responsibility for setting its ownproperties. For an Annotate object (i.e., screen objects found in Graphwindows), for example, an exemplary setProperty method may beconstructed as follows:

    __________________________________________________________________________    BOOL Annotate::setProperty ( LPSTR lpPropStr, LPSTR lpValueStr, PROPTYPE      pt )                                                                          WORD w;                                                                       if ((w = info.propIndex (lpPropStr, pt)) < annoEndProps) {                    if (info.ppProps [w].getType() > prop.sub.-- Compound)                        switch (w) {                                                                          case annoFrame:                                                                 getFrame (GlobalFrameProp.x,                                        GlobalFrameProp.y,                                                                        GlobalFrameProp.w,                                                GlobalFrameProp.h);                                                                     break;                                                              }                                                                             if ((info.ppProps [w].getProp())-->stringToValue (lpValueStr,                 pt)) {                                                                        BOOL f = TRUE;                                                                switch (w) {                                                                          case annoFrame:                                                                 setFrame (GlobalFrameProp.x,                                        GlobalFrameProp.y,                                                                        GlobalFrameProp.w,                                                GlobalFrameProp.h);                                                                     break;                                                                      case annoHidden:                                                                if (GlobalYesNoProp.index)                                                      hide (TRUE);                                                                else                                                                            show (TRUE);                                                                break;                                                                      case annoShow:                                                                  if (GlobalYesNoProp.index)                                                      show (TRUE);                                                                else                                                                            hide (TRUE);                                                                break;                                                                      case annoId:                                                                    if (pCW && pCW-->infoPtr()-->objType ==                             ot.sub.-- Dialog)                                                                         f = ((DialView                                                    *)pCW-->getContentView())-->setIdx (this, GlobalWordProp.w);                            else                                                                            idx = GlobalWordProp.w;                                                     break;                                                                      case annoAttach:                                                                flags.nochild = !GlobalYesNoProp.index;                                       break;                                                                      case annoPosition:                                                              *(WORD *)&flags = (*(WORD *)&flags                                              & ˜ (vfPOSITION   vfLEFTREL                                 vfTOPREL   vfRIGHTREL   vfBOTTOMREL                                                         vfTOPTYPE   vfRIGHTTYPE))                                       GlobalPositionProp.flags;                                                               flags.bottomType = flags.topType;                                             flags.leftType = flags.rightType;                                             break;                                                              }                                                                             if (f)                                                                                callConnection (lpPropStr, lpValueStr, pt);                           return f;                                                                     }                                                                             else                                                                          return FALSE;                                                                 }                                                                             else                                                                          return Tracker::setProperty (lpPropStr, lpValueStr, pt);                      }                                                                             __________________________________________________________________________

As shown, the override method processes properties specific for Annotate(e.g., change frame, ID, position, and the like). In the event that aproperty is not identified, the property is passed up the inheritancechain for appropriate processing (by a parent's setProperty method). Inthis manner, an individual object (e.g., an Annotate object) in thesystem is designed to know how to get (getProperty) and set(setProperty) its own properties.

After the update of step 1056, the method 1050 concludes. At this point,the system is ready for another inspection. Alternatively, the user mayundertake other activities, as desired.

Attached hereto is a microfiche Appendix A containing C++ source codelistings, which provide a description of the invention suitable for usein a general purpose digital computer system, such as an IBM-compatiblepersonal computer. A suitable compiler for compiling and linking C++code is available from Borland International.

While the invention is described in some detail with specific referenceto a single preferred embodiment and certain alternatives, there is nointent to limit the invention to that particular embodiment or thosespecific alternatives. For example, the property inspection of thepresent invention has been illustrated with mouse devices. Those skilledin the art, however, will appreciate that other input devices, includingtrackballs, joysticks, light pens, and the like, may be employed.Moreover, the present invention may be advantageously implemented in avariety of UI platforms other than Windows, including Macintosh,X-Windows, Motif, NextStep, OS/2, and the like. Thus, the true scope ofthe present invention is not limited to any one of the foregoingexemplary embodiments but is instead defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. In an electronic spreadsheet system for storingand manipulating information, a method of representing and using athree-dimensional spreadsheet on a screen display, the methodcomprising:(a) displaying on said screen display a first spreadsheetpage from a plurality of spreadsheet pages, each of said spreadsheetpages comprising an array of information cells arranged in row andcolumn format, at least some of said information cells storinguser-supplied information and formulas operative on said user-suppliedinformation, each of said information cells being uniquely identified bya row, a column, and a spreadsheet page where the cell is located; (b)while displaying said first spreadsheet page, displaying a row ofspreadsheet page identifiers along one side of said first spreadsheetpage, each said spreadsheet page identifier being displayed as an imageof a notebook tab on said screen display and indicating a singlerespective spreadsheet page; and (c) designating a three-dimensionalblock of cells in said three-dimensional spreadsheet by the steps of:i)using an input device to designate a two-dimensional block of cells onsaid first spreadsheet page; and ii) designating a selected one of saidnotebook tabs to designate a second spreadsheet page, and extend saidtwo-dimensional block to a three-dimensional block of cells
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein:step (b) further includes displaying a pageidentifier for said first spreadsheet page
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising:(d) while displaying said first spreadsheet page,indicating on said screen display that the spreadsheet page beingdisplayed is said first spreadsheet page.
 4. The method of claim 3wherein step (d) comprises displaying on said screen display aspreadsheet page identifier for said first spreadsheet page with adifferent appearance from other displayed spreadsheet page identifiers.5. The method of claim 4 where said different appearance includes adifference in color.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:(d)selecting with said input device a spreadsheet page identifier for athird spreadsheet page; and (e) in response to step (d), displaying saidthird spreadsheet page while simultaneously displaying said spreadsheetpage identifiers for said first and second spreadsheet pages, said thirdspreadsheet page obscuring from display said first and secondspreadsheet pages.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said spreadsheetpage identifiers are displayed along a horizontal side of a spreadsheetpage being displayed.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein said horizontalside is a bottom side.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein eachspreadsheet page identifier includes a default page name comprising asingle alphabetic character.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein a cellof one spreadsheet page includes a reference to a cell of anotherspreadsheet page, said reference including a page name for said otherspreadsheet page.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:(d)receiving a request for changing a default page name associated with oneof said spreadsheet page identifiers; and (e) in response to step (d),changing said default page name associated with, said one of saidspreadsheet page identifiers to a user-supplied page name.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said user-supplied page name comprisestextual information.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein a reference toan information cell located on a spreadsheet page having a user-suppliedpage name includes said user-supplied page name as a portion of thereference.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein:step (b) includesdisplaying a spreadsheet page identifier for said first spreadsheet pageand providing said spreadsheet page identifier for said firstspreadsheet page a different appearance than remaining spreadsheet pageidentifiers in said row of spreadsheet page identifiers.
 15. The methodof claim 1, further comprising:(d) receiving a request for moving aparticular one of said spreadsheet pages to a desired position relativeto others of said spreadsheet pages, said request comprising a useraction which specifies said desired position by positioning thespreadsheet page identifier for said particular one of said spreadsheetpages at a new position relative to other spreadsheet page identifiers;and (e) in response to step (d), moving said particular one of saidspreadsheet pages to said desired position.
 16. In an electronicspreadsheet system for storing and manipulating information, a method ofrepresenting and using a three-dimensional spreadsheet on a screendisplay, the method comprising:(a) displaying on said screen display afirst spreadsheet page from a plurality of spreadsheet pages, each ofsaid spreadsheet pages comprising an array of information cells arrangedin row and column format, at least some of said information cellsstoring user-supplied information and formulas operative on saiduser-supplied information, each of said information cells being uniquelyidentified by a row, a column, and a spreadsheet page identifier; (b)while displaying said first spreadsheet page, displaying a row ofspreadsheet page identifiers along one side of said first spreadsheetpage, each said spreadsheet page identifier being displayed as an imageof a notebook tab on said screen display and indicating a singlerespective spreadsheet page, wherein:i) each of said notebook tabscomprises at least one user-supplied identifying character, saiduser-supplied identifying character used as said spreadsheet pageidentifier for cells on spreadsheet pages associated with theirrespective notebook tabs, each of said plurality of said spreadsheetpages in said three-dimensional spreadsheet associated with a unique oneof said spreadsheet page identifiers; and ii) said user-suppliedinformation in said rows and columns of information cells for each ofsaid plurality of spreadsheet pages is stored in a single disk file; (c)requesting display of a second spreadsheet page in response to selectionwith an input device of a spreadsheet page identifier for said secondspreadsheet page; (d) in response to said requesting step, displayingsaid second spreadsheet page from said single disk file on said screendisplay in a manner so as to obscure said first spreadsheet page fromdisplay while continuing to display at least a portion of said row ofspreadsheet page identifiers; (e) using said spreadsheet pageidentifiers to identify a cell in a desired spreadsheet page whenentering said formulas; and (f) designating a three-dimensional block ofcells in said three-dimensional spreadsheet by the steps of:i) using aninput device to designate a two-dimensional block of cells on said firstspreadsheet page; and ii) designating a selected one of said notebooktabs to designate a second spreadsheet page, and extend saidtwo-dimensional block to a three-dimensional block of cells.
 17. In anelectronic spreadsheet system for modeling user-supplied information ina three-dimensional spreadsheet model, said three-dimensionalspreadsheet model comprising a plurality of information cells storingdata and formulas operative on said data, said system performing anaggregate operation on selected blocks of cells, a method for assistinga user with selecting a three-dimensional block of cells, the methodcomprising:(a) dividing said three-dimensional matrix of informationcells into a plurality of two-dimensional matrices, each of saidtwo-dimensional matrices being represented on a display device as a pagearray of information cells, wherein cell references between cells on onepage array are formed by specifying row and column coordinates, and cellreferences between cells on different page arrays are formed byspecifying row, column, and page coordinates, said three-dimensionalmatrix of information cells being stored on a storage device as a singledisk file; (b) displaying with each said page array of information cellsa tab identifier, so that each tab identifier of a particular page arraydisplays the page coordinate for that particular page array; (c)receiving first user input for selecting a two-dimensional block ofcells from a first page array, whereupon said system selects saidtwo-dimensional block of cells from said first page array; (d) whilesaid two-dimensional block of cells is selected, receiving second userinput for extending said two-dimensional block of cells into athree-dimensional block of cells, said second user input including userselection of the tab identifier for a second page array, whereupon saidsystem extends said two-dimensional block of cells from said first pagearray into said three-dimensional block of cells spanning from saidfirst page array to said second page array; and (e) receiving third userinput for requesting said aggregate operation, whereupon said systemperforms said aggregate operation on said three-dimensional block ofcells.